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COLUMBUS - For the second time in three years, animal-rights activists said they have walked into sheds at a massive Ohio egg farm and videotaped what they call "animal cruelty, neglect, and abuse."

But unlike 2001, members of Mercy for Animals are expanding their target beyond Ohio Fresh Eggs, the egg farm in Wyandot, Licking, and Hardin counties formerly known as Buckeye Egg.

Mercy for Animals is challenging the "Animal Care Certified" program that an industry group, the United Egg Producers, started five years ago nationwide.

Ohio Fresh Eggs is among the largest Ohio farms in the program, which enables producers complying with several guidelines to market and sell their eggs with the "Animal Care Certified" logo.

The egg industry said it started the program in response to consumer interest in the humane treatment of animals.

About 80 percent of egg cartons sold in supermarkets carry the logo, which includes an eye-catching check mark.

Nathan Runkle, executive director of Mercy for Animals, a Columbus-based group that said it has 4,000 members, said the "Animal Care Certified" logo should be scrapped.

"It's really just a [public relations] gimmick by the egg industry to play off the good intentions of consumers, who do care about animal cruelty and don't want to support it," Mr. Runkle said.

He said four members of Mercy for Animals walked into four sheds at Ohio Fresh Eggs in Licking County in November. He said they videotaped hens with eye and sinus infections, hens caught by the wire of their cages and under feeding trays, dead hens in cages, and one hen found alive in a trash can with several dead ones.

The group plans to show the videotape at a news conference tomorrow in Columbus and in Toledo on Wednesday. The Blade received a copy last week.

Don Hershey, president and general manager of Ohio Fresh Eggs, questioned whether the footage was shot at one of his company's farms. He said Ohio Fresh Eggs follows "strict guidelines that ensure the health of our flocks, prevent disease, and produce a high-quality, safe egg for consumers."

"If I don't have healthy chickens, then I don't have chickens that are laying any eggs," Mr. Hershey added.

Mitch Head, spokesman for United Egg Producers, said he could not understand why animal-rights activists want to get rid of the Animal Care Certified program.

United Egg Producers officials said a company cannot achieve Animal Care Certified status unless it follows all of the guidelines, files a monthly compliance report, and passes an annual audit by either the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists.

"If the program is at some point done away with, then there are no standards. At least they are better than what they were," Mr. Head said.

In 2002, the National Council of Chain Restaurants and the Food Marketing Institute endorsed the guidelines.

But last year, the national advertising division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus referred the Animal Care Certified logo on egg cartons to the Federal Trade Commission for possible law-enforcement action.

An animal-rights group based in Washington, Compassion over Killing, challenged the "truth and accuracy" of the program, said David Mallen, assistant director for legal affairs with the Better Business Bureaus.

The national advertising division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus said the logo gave the message to consumers that the eggs were from hens "raised under caring and humane conditions when that was not the case."

The Council of Better Business Bureaus made the referral to the FTC after United Egg Producers said it would add a Web site address to the logo on egg cartons so consumers can learn more about the guidelines.

But Mr. Mallen said the public education effort "did not alter the fact that the certification logo itself was found to be misleading."

The trade commission, which can impose penalties or order producers to halt the program, has not taken action on the referral from the Council of Better Business Bureaus.

Mr. Runkle said United Egg Producers' guidelines allow for "debeaking" - in which chicks' beaks are cut off. He also said a requirement to provide at least 67 square inches of space in cages for each hen is phased in over five years.

"These guidelines don't go nearly far enough," Mr. Runkle said.

A committee that developed the guidelines recommended "beak trimming only when necessary to prevent feather pecking and cannibalism.…"

A walk through the chicken sheds

Mr. Runkle said on the night of Nov. 5, 2004, and early into the next day, four members of Mercy for Animals - Elizabeth Petroff, Jonathan Eudaley, Reda Ashour, and Jason Zeah - walked through four of 16 sheds at Layer Site No. 2 in Croton, which is in Licking County.

Mr. Runkle said Mercy for Animals removed three hens from Ohio Fresh Eggs, and they were treated by an avian specialist.

In 2001, Mercy for Animals released a videotape that the group said showed conditions at Buckeye Egg Farm in Wyandot County and Daylay Egg Farm in Union County.

Ohio Fresh Eggs released a statement on Friday asserting that the hens shown in the videotape that Mercy for Animals plans to release tomorrow "are not Ohio Fresh birds, as is evidence by demonstrable differences between the birds shown in the video and birds raised at Ohio Fresh Eggs."

Mr. Hershey said the difference is how Ohio Fresh Eggs cuts off the beaks of its hens, and he suggested that the videotape to be released tomorrow could be footage that Mercy for Animals members videotaped in 2001 at Buckeye Egg - a charge which Mr. Runkle denies.

Mr. Hershey said TV stations recently showed the videotape that Mercy for Animals plans to show tomorrow in the Statehouse Atrium.

Mr. Runkle displayed a photograph of one of the group's members holding the Nov. 5, 2004, edition of the New York Times and said the picture was taken at Ohio Fresh Eggs after activists entered the sheds.

In 2003, the state ordered Buckeye Egg to shut down because of several environmental violations.

Ohio Fresh Eggs bought Buckeye Egg in two stages, the Licking County barns in December, 2003, and the facilities in Hardin and Wyandot counties in February, 2004.

Combined, the egg farms house 8.5 million hens. Ohio Fresh Eggs is owned and operated by Ohio Ag Investors LLC, owned by Mr. Hershey; and by Hillandale Farms LLC, owned by Orland Bethel.

Mr. Hershey said as a member of the Animal Care Certified program, Ohio Fresh Eggs has reduced the number of hens per cage, increasing the amount of space from 53 square inches per hen to 67 square inches by 2008.

But Mr. Runkle said at least 303 square inches are needed for a hen to flap its wings.

On Feb. 22, Mercy for Animals asked Cincinnati-based Kroger Corp. to remove the Animal Care Certified logo on all Kroger brand egg cartons.

Mr. Runkle cited the company's "policy on business ethics" that states: "customers deserve clear and accurate advertising that provides useful information to assist in the purchase decision."

Getting the eggs into stores

Gary Rhodes, a Kroger spokesman, said Kroger does not buy eggs from either Ohio Fresh Eggs or Hillandale Farms. He said he did not know why.

"We refuse to take any eggs from any supplier that does not follow the animal-welfare guidelines.… We require each supplier to include certification that they're in compliance with all of the guidelines," Mr. Rhodes said.

Mr. Runkle said Mercy for Animals plans to send requests to other grocery-store chains.

Mr. Hershey said Ohio Fresh Eggs sells eggs to several grocery store chains including Food Club and Food Lion, but he said the company is not a supplier to Kroger because of Buckeye Egg's "poor reputation."

Contact James Drew at: jdrew@theblade.com or 614-221-0496.

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